Absenteeism costs the UK billions of unnecessary pounds. It’s time we focussed on employee wellbeing.

British workers take more than four times as many sick days off work than some of their global counterparts.

In the UK, absenteeism is running at around 10 working days per year, per worker and this is costing businesses a fortune.

A study of 2,500 UK businesses showed sick leave accounts for nearly 90% of a company’s absence bill. At a time when companies are striving for growth it is vital they address this cost by looking for ways to improve employees’ health, morale and motivation.

Forward-looking companies should invest in health and well-being services to tackle the issue before absence starts to hit their bottom lines. Allowing greater workplace flexibility through the implementation of agile working could go a long way to helping break the sickness cycle.